Winter v. Davis

10 S.W.2d 181
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 1, 1928
DocketNo. 2960. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 10 S.W.2d 181 (Winter v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Winter v. Davis, 10 S.W.2d 181 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

JACKSON, J.

J. B. Davis, on October 12, 1922, instituted a suit in the district court of Deaf Smith county, Tex., styled J. B. Davis v. E. H. Shore et al. (No. 1374). The suit was against B. A. Winter, E. H. Shore, and O. M. Shore, on three notes, aggregating, in principal, the sum of $2,500. The notes sued on were given as part of the purchase money for lots Nos. 3 and 4 in block No. 40 of the town of Hereford, in Deaf Smith county, Tex. The deed conveying said lots described said notes and retained a lien to secure the payment thereof.

The plaintiff in said suit alleged that said lots were, on May 17,1921, conveyed by O. M. Shore to E. H. Shore, who executed the notes sued upon as part consideration for said lots; that thereafter, for a valuable consideration, O. M. Shore sold and indorsed said notes to B. A. Winter, who thereafter, for a valuable consideration, sold and indorsed the notes to him; that default had been made in the payment of said notes, and by reason thereof he was entitled to and sought judgment for his debt, principal, interest, attorney’s fees, and costs, and a foreclosure of his lien on the above-described property against each of the defendants.

He alleged that E. H. Shore resided in Deaf Smith county, Tex., O. M. Shore resided in Wise county, Tex., and B. A. Winter resided in Santa Fé county, N. M.

On May 2, 1923, the court rendered judgment in said cause in favor of J. B. Davis for the total sum of $4,503.77, with interest thereon at the rate of 10 per cent, per an-num, against each of the defendants in said suit, and foreclosed the lien against the property. The judgment directed an order of sale to be issued in favor of the plaintiff, which! was done, and in due time the property sold as under execution, and purchased by J. B. Davis for the sum of $500, and, after the costs were paid, the judgment was cred *182 ited with .$462.60. The judgment provided that, if the property should not sell for enough to satisfy the debt, interest, and costs, the balance should be made as under execution against the defendants.

This judgment was Kept in force, abstracted, filed, and indexed on the judgment lien record of Potter county, Tex., and on December 11, 1926, J. B. Davis caused a pluries execution to be issued to the sheriff of Potter county, Tex., commanding that lie collect the balance of said judgment out of any property belonging to any of the defendants, subject to sale, which execution was levied upon certain property in Potter county, Tex., belonging to B. A. Winter.

On January 15, 1927, B. A. Winter, as plaintiff, instituted suit in the district court of Deaf Smith county, Tex., against J. B. Davis, E. H. and O. M. Shore, as defendants, in cause No. 1611, to restrain J. B. Davis and the sheriff of Potter county from further proceeding under said pluries execution or any other based on the judgment in cause No. 1S74, and prayed that said judgment be canceled, vacated, annulled, and held for naught, and that said, abstract of judgment and all liens be canceled and annulled.

In cause No. 1611, B. A. Winter, the plaintiff, alleges that the clerk of the district court of Deaf Smith county, Tex., in cause No. 1374, issued a citation addressed to the sheriff or any constable of Deaf Smith county, commanding that B. A. Winter be summoned to be and appear before the district court of said county on April 30, 1923, to answer the petition of J. B. D'avis in said cause; that the nature of the demand was stated in said citation by pasting therein an uncertified copy of the petition; that the return of the sheriff on said citation discloses that it was received by him on November 9, 1922, and executed in Deaf Smith county by delivering it to B. A. Winter; that the petition in cause 1374 alleged the residence of B. A. Winter to be “in Santa Eé county, N. M.”; that no supplemental or additional pleadings were filed' by the plaintiff in said cause, showing any different place of residence of B. A. Winter, and no other additional authority or direction was given by the clerk for the issuance of notice or citation to him, except that contained in the original petition; that, based on said petition and this purported service, the judgment was rendered in said cause in favor of J. B. Davis against the defendants, the lien foreclosed on said property, etc.; that no service or notice or citation of any kind was ever served upon him, save and except the one above described; that he did n.ot read said citation, because he thought it was a paper in connection with a different suit, was. not informed of its contents, and had no notice or knowledge that judgment was sought against him on the notes sued on, or that judgment had been rendered against him until in March, 1924, when his attention was called to the filing of the abstract of judgment in Potter county, and that the term of court at which the judgment in 1374 was rendered had long since expired, and it was too late to appeal from said judgment or sue out a writ of error; that said petition did not authorize the issuance of said citation, and the issuance thereof was without authority of law, and the attempted service upon him was wholly void and of no force or effect, because on November 2, 1922, and for many months preceding and following that date, he was a permanent resident and citizen of the state of New Mexico, and was not a resident of Deaf Smith county, Tex.

The plaintiff in the case at bar sets up, as a meritorious defense to the suit in cause No. 1374, that the property against which a foreclosure was had exceeded in value the amount of the judgment, and that all of said notes were primarily the obligation of E. H. Shore, who sold them to O. M. Shore, and that O. M. Shore had sold and indorsed the notes to B. A. Winter, from whom the plaintiff in cause No. 1374 acquired them; that both O. M. and E. H. Shore, as prior indorsers, were liable for the full amount of said notes before recourse could be had upon the property of B. A. Winter, all of which he would have shown had he been legally served; that, inasmuch as he was a nonresident of the state of Texas at the time of the purported service upon him in Deaf Smith county, no personal judgment could be legally rendered against him on the notes.

The defendant J. B. Davis answered by general demurrer, special exceptions, general denial, 'and pleaded two-year limitation, the negligence of the plaintiff in failing to answer, seek a new trial, appeal, or apply for a writ of error in, cause No. 1374, and that all the defendants in said suit were properly and legally served with process; that the judgment was valid and became final because no appeal or writ of error was prosecuted therefrom; that the lien held by him against the lots in Hereford, Deaf Smith county, was a second lien, and of but little value; that an abstract of said judgment was properly made, certified, and filed with and recorded by the county clerk of Potter county, Tex., in the judgment records of said county, duly indexed, and thereby became and constituted a lien against lots Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, in block 38, lot No. 12 in block No. 70, and lots Nos. 1 and 2 in block No. 104, all situated in Amarillo, Potter county, Tex., and all of which belonged to the plaintiff and Kate M. Winter, his wife, who, he alleged, was asserting some kind of claim thereto, and asked that she be made a party and for a foreclosure of his said judgment lien.

E. H. and O. M. Shore filed no answer and made no appearance.

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10 S.W.2d 181, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winter-v-davis-texapp-1928.